Twenty-four Teams To Compete for Chance to Represent Ireland in F1 in Schools™ World Finals

Twenty-four teams will compete in the National Finals of the F1 in Schools™ Competition on Thursday April 7, 2011 in Griffith College Dublin. The winning team will go on to represent Ireland at the F1 in Schools™ Technology Challenge World Championships in Malaysia this September, where they will compete against national winners from 31 countries from around the world.

The F1 in Schools™ challenge is a global competition that challenges students to design, build and race model Formula 1 cars powered by compressed air canisters. The teams are judged on car speed, as well as supporting evidence of their design, verbal presentation and display stand. The competition, powered in Ireland by the Irish Computer Society, is a response to a recognised skills shortage in computing and engineering, with technology courses having experienced a significant decline in CAO applications over the past number of years.

Work for the 2011 Finals commenced last September with schools registering their interest in competing.  Intense competition followed with 600 students representing 150 second-level schools from across the country battling their way through the various stages of the competition to reach the National Finals.  

“The commitment showed by both the students and their teachers is incredible. The teams have been working on their cars and projects since September and it really shows when they come together for the National Finals” said Jim Friars, CEO of the Irish Computer Society (ICS).

“It’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic and creative the students are when it comes to modelling and planning their cars and how much they enjoy using technology to design them.”

 The aim of the F1 in Schools™ Competition is to promote technology use among second-level students and to encourage students to pursue science, engineering and technology courses at third-level.

Among the participants in the 2010 F1 in Schools™ Competition:

·         82 per cent of participants have said that the competition has encouraged them to think about careers in engineering and computing;

·         Among those studying a technology subject at school, 96 per cent said that the F1 in Schools competition will help them with their school work;

·         60 per cent of Design and Communications Graphics teachers felt the F1 in Schools™ competition was “Extremely helpful” in preparing students for their schoolwork; and

·         76 per cent of students who took part felt that they were more interested in technology than they had been before they started the competition.